NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Craddock visited Decani MOnastery

Bishop Teodosije conveyed to the NATO Suppreme Allied Commander Europe Gen Cradock his concern for the future of the Serbian people and the holy sites in Kosovo in the forthcoming period of the status settlement. Bishop Teodosije particularly requested from the SACEUR that KFOR remains involved in a long term protection of the Serbian people and its holy sites and resolutely prevent any attempt of violence such was the one in March 2004.

  
 Bishop Teodosije, Gen. Craddock (SACEUR), Gen. Kather (COMKFOR)
and Task Force West (TFW) Commander Gen. Borecca at Decani Monastery
(click to enlarge)

KIM Info-service
Decani, March 12, 2007

NATO Supreme Allied Commander EUROPE (SACEUR) Gen. Bantz J. Craddock with generals Roland Kather (COMKFOR) and Task Force West Commander Gen Attilio Claudio Borecca visited today visoki Decani Monastery and talked to the Abbot, Vicar Bishop Teodosije and Fr. Sava Janjic.

After the visit to the church and a short introduction about the history of the monastery Bishop Teodosije and Fr. Sava received the high NATO delegation at the Monastery library. The Bishop thanked to Gen. Craddock for all KFOR is doing for the benefit of all Kosovo citizens. He also experssed his serious concern for the future of the Serbian community and their hoy sites in Kosovo particularly in the forthcoming period of the status settlement. "Since the 1999 war until now 150 Orthodox Christian churches were destroyed and 200.000 Serbs foreced to leave their homes, said the Bishop adding that the Church remains deeply concerned for their future as this tragedy has happened in the international presence. "We re nevertheless very determined to stay here and sincerely hope, said the Bishop, that the negotiations on the status settlement will provide eventually a dignified, secure and institutionally protected life for the Serbian people and all other Kosovo citizens. The role of the NATO in this process is indispensable because without security for all who want to live peacefully Kosovo will never be a safe home for anyone"

 
SACEUR Gen. Craddock and the NATO delegation enter the monastery with Bishop Teodosije and Fr. Sava
(click to enlarge)

Bishop Teodosije particularly requested from the NATO Supreme Commander that the KFOR remains in Kosovo and continues to provide protection for the Serbian people, its property and holy sites, preventing any kind of ethnic violence like the March 2004 riots. He emphasised that in Kosovo the most important spiritual monumens of the Serbian people are situated including the spiritual center of the SOC - the Pec Patriarchate MOnastery with tombs of Serbian Archbishops and Patriarchs since the Middle Ages. "All these holy sites are the living witnesses of the presence of the Serbian people and its culture and together with our congregation, our people, these sites constitute the Church of Christ here which must continue its mission regardless of the future status settlement, said the Bishop.

Gen. Craddock conveyed a very determined position to the Bishop that NATO will remain present in this area as long as it is neccessary to provide a safe future for all. The protection of the people and the holy sites is very imporatnt and we are determined not to allow extremists of any kind to jeopardize the values on which democracy is founded. This beautiful monastery is particularly an inspiring place and shows that we all must be responsible to preserve such places of worship for the future and enable return of returnees, said General Craddock.

Bishpo Teodosije advised Gen. Craddock that the Serbian Orthodox Church from the very begining of the Kosovo conflict strongly condemned any form of violence in Kosovo and offered its hand of friendship to all people of good wil. That is why we've been living in spiritual hope that the people of good will regardless of their ethnicity, relligion or language will prevail over those who don't share with us the vision of better future, those who fail to recognize the image of our Lord Createor in our neighbors, said the Bishop.

 
Conversation with the NATO generals at the Monastery Library
(click to enlarge)

NATO high officers thanked to their hosts for a day which, they said they will keep in their memory as an experience of particular value. Gen. Craddock particularly mentioned his memories of his first stay in Kosovo where he spend several months in 1999 as one of the first US Commanders in the Sector East.

Italian KFOR officers organized a presentation at the monastery gate explaining to General Craddock their strategy of the protectin of the monastery and the entire area. KFOR has increased the level of vigilance in the last weeks in order to demonstrate the firm determination of the NATO led peacekeeping troops that no one will be allowed to achieve political goals by violence and to the detriment of other people and particularly not the holy sites. A few days ago IT. General Borecca hosted a lunch for the religious representatives of the Pec region giving his particular contribution to the building of interethnic and interreligious confidence.

More about Gen. Craddock can be found at Wikipedia:

OTHER KOSOVO RELATED NEWS

Kosovo's Uncertain Future

the Failure of the West's 'Ostrich' Policy
Spiegel Online

With the Serbs and Albanians unable to reach common ground, it's now up to the United Nations to determine the future status of Kosovo. It won't be easy. According to a new study, the international community has failed miserably.

Common ground on Kosovo, it seems, is still a long way off. In Vienna on Saturday, a year of fruitless talks between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians failed to reach a negotiated solution for the province, leading United Nations Special Envoy and Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari to admit defeat. He said he would now send his plan to the UN Security Council for review.

But even if the council imposes a solution, the future of the province is far from rosy. That, at least is the conclusion reached by a Berlin think-tank this month, saying the international community is largely to blame for ignoring the realities in Kosovo.

The planned "construction of a multi-ethnic society" has "failed" and does not exist "outside the bureaucratic statements of the international community," says the report, released by the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin.

Indeed, eight years after the end of the Kosovo War -- when NATO air strikes on Belgrade ended the Serbian crackdown on the Albanian insurgency -- the two sides still want as little to do with each other as possible. While the ethnic Albanian majority insists on nothing less than full independence, many Serbs do not want to lose Kosovo, which they see as their historic homeland.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said he found the idea of parting with the province "unbearable" and Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said the plan would encourage other regions around the world to break away. Although Ahtisaari's blueprint stops short of the word independence, it sets out a framework for a Kosovo state, under a foreign overseer, with protection for the 100,000 remaining Serbs. UN veto-power Russia may provide a stumbling block, as it has traditionally been a Serb ally, but so far it has avoided threatening to use its veto.

The failure of the talks comes exactly one year after former Serbian autocrat Slobodan Milosvic was found dead in his cell in The Hague where he was on trial for war crimes. A number of officials from the Socialist Party, which Milosevic used to lead, gathered to mark the anniversary.

Bleak prospects for Kosovo

But according to the Berlin report, if Western governments are hoping to resolve this final major dispute left from the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia, they may be disappointed. The analysis by the IEP, which specializes in studying European integration, is a scathing critique of the security situation and the future prospects for development in Kosovo.
The study, commissioned by the German army, says the European Union's security strategy for a future mission in Kosovo is "neither analytically nor conceptually sustainable." The "false belief" in the blessing of independence is pushing "hopes for a leap in prosperity to unrealistic levels," it writes. Instead, any setback threatens to result in "serious unrest if not revolutionary-like upheavals."

The 124-page report blames the bleak prospects for the province's future on the UN administration, the NATO-led KFOR mission and the Europeans' "ostrich" policy. The study outlines mismanagement, corruption, organizational chaos and "organized crime gangs," which have infiltrated significant parts of the KFOR staff. The role of the United States is also deemed counterproductive: The IEP accuses Washington of being involved in helping criminals to flee, "sometimes openly" hindering European investigations into war crimes and training former KLA fighters -- an "obvious" breach of the UN resolution.

The think tank also berates Western governments for Kosovo policies that are "hesitant, inconsistent and inhomogeneous when it comes to significant issues." Instead of unsparingly taking stock of the situation, pressure to succeed from the highest political levels has created a "culture of systematically suppressing critical reports."

Demands in Germany to bring their troops home from Kosovo soon are also rejected by the report's authors. Such a move would go against the "obvious German interest in a sustainable stabilization of Kosovo."

Kosovo status plan 'premature': Russia

MOSCOW, March 13, 2007 (AFP) - Russia said Tuesday it was too soon for the UN Security Council to consider a proposed expansion of Kosovo's independence and that further negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo were needed.

UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan to deliver proposals on Kosovo to the United Nations later this month, despite the failure of talks between Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority "is premature," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement.

"Without the agreement of both sides, on the basis of a compromise, these proposals cannot guarantee a stable, long-lasting resolution. It is necessary to continue impartial consultations."

Ahtisaari's plan would grant Kosovo self-government, its own flag and anthem and membership in international organizations, though it would stop short of full independence.
Negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian leaders ended in deadlock at the weekend after Serbia refused to accept the proposal.

Russia, a close supporter of Serbia and opponent of independence for Kosovo, said the talks were bound to fail since they were "flawed from the start in favour of one side," Kamynin said.

The UN-sponsored talks aimed at regularising the status of Kosovo, which has been under UN supervision since 1999 when a NATO bombing campaign ended the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serb forces.

This followed a bloody two-year conflict resulting from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Too early to submit Ahtisaari Kosovo plan to UN - ministry

13/03/2007 16:44 MOSCOW, March 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Foreign Ministry believes it is too early to stop Kosovo status talks and submit the Ahtisaari plan on Kosovo to the UN Security Council, a ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

Serbia's predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo province, which has a population of two million, has been a UN protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a war between Serb forces and Albanian separatists in 1999.
Marti Ahtisaari, a special UN envoy for talks on Kosovo, said March 10 he would return his resolution proposals to the UN Security Council following fruitless top-level talks in Vienna between Pristina and Belgrade.

Mikhail Kamynin said: "We believe the decision of Ahtisaari, the special envoy of the UN secretary general, to terminate talks and submit his status groundwork to the UN is premature."

Ahtisaari has proposed that the Kosovo province be granted internationally supervised sovereignty, but Serbian authorities have strongly opposed his plan as threatening Serbia's national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Serbian parliament unanimously approved a resolution February 14 rejecting some provisions of the plan.

Kamynin said the fruitless outcome of the talks was not unexpected, as Ahtisaari's proposals were made in favor of only one side, contained "statements on the predetermined sovereignty of the [Kosovo] province and established artificial timeframes hampering the search for a compromise."

He said the sides should "continue unbiased consultations."

Russian officials have repeatedly said that granting sovereignty to Kosovo would set a precedent, and that the international community would then have to recognize as independent separatist regions in the former Soviet Union, namely Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Moldova's Transdnestr.

As a veto-wielding member in the 15-nation UN Security Council and a traditional ally of Serbia, Russia has insisted that a decision on Kosovo should satisfy both Kosovar and Serbian authorities, and must be reached through negotiations.

Unlike Russia, NATO has made it clear that it favors independence for Kosovo, but the final decision will be up to the UN Security Council, which will hear Ahtisaari's proposals in mid-March.

U.N. Kosovo future plan on way to New York

VIENNA, March 12 (UPI) -- A U.N. plan on the future status of Serbia's mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province is ready to be sent to the U.N. offices in New York for consideration.

The plan, which would grant Kosovo the right to govern itself, was worked out by Martti Ahtisaari, the chief U.N. envoy to the Kosovo talks between Serbs and ethnic-Albanians that ended without agreement Saturday in Vienna, the Serbian news agency Beta reported Monday.

Remi Durlo, spokesman for the U.N. office of the special envoy for Kosovo, told Beta that Albert Rohan, Ahtisaari's deputy at the Vienna talks, will fly to New York on Wednesday to submit the plan to the U.N. Secretariat Thursday or Friday.

After the plan is considered and translated in several languages, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to submit the document to the Security Council for consideration.
Durlo said he expected the Security Council and Ahtisaari would meet in April, at a date to be decided by Britain, which will preside over council sessions that month.
The United States will preside over the Security Council in May.

US confident Kosovo compromise will be found

AFP, March 12 - The United States said Monday it was confident the United Nations could broker a compromise with Russia to secure the final status of the Serbian province of Kosovo and avoid a Russian veto of the plan.

"I would not assume that there would be a Russian veto. We have so far worked collaboratively with the Russians and it's our intention to keep working," said Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European affairs.

The plan drawn up by the UN special envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, stops short of granting full independence to the Albanian-majority province.

But it gives the province all the trappings of statehood -- self-government, its own flag and anthem, and membership of international organizations.

Weekend talks in Vienna chaired by Ahtisaari between the Serbians and Kosovo Albanians failed to reach an accord over the plan, aimed at regularizing the status of the province which is currently under UN supervision.

An 11-week NATO bombing campaign in 1999 ended the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serb forces from the province after a bloody two-year conflict, which resulted from the break-up for the former Yugoslavia.

Belgrade is hoping that its ally, veto-wielding Russia, will block approval at the UN Security Council of the plan, which would hand Kosovo self-rule.

Moscow has already insisted it will not endorse a decision that is not accepted by Serbia.
But Fried said: "Obviously Russia has expressed its concerns and they can speak for themselves. But the fact is we have a good record of cooperation.

"The US and Russia have worked very closely and collaboratively within the contact group. This group has now worked together for years and at every stage we have worked in support of Ahtisaari and in support of this process."

Draft Kosovo report backs Ahtisaari proposal, but does not call for independence

Parlamento Europeo

A report passed by the Foreign Affairs Committee last night gave its full support to the Ahtisaari proposal for a status settlement, while avoiding any explicit mention of Kosovo's independence. The report also reaffirmed the European perspective of both Serbia and Kosovo, and called for the EU to play a central role in the current international negotiations for a settlement.

The Foreign Affairs Committee lent its full support yesterday to the UN-led drive to determine the final status of Kosovo, and to the Ahtisaari Proposal in particular. Martti Ahtisaari, former Finnish President, was the UN Special Envoy charged with devising a plan for the status settlement of Kosovo. His proposal, released early last month, would give Kosovo some of the trappings of sovereignty, such as rights to membership in international organisations, but does not advocate outright independence. The own-initiative report by Joost Lagendijk (Greens/EFA, NL) spelled out several desirable aspects of a settlement:
 
-access to international financial organisations
-an international presence in Kosovo, with a clear definition of its role and mandate
-clear provisions on decentralisation which grant substantial autonomy in key areas
-full respect for human rights
-retention of Kosovo's multi-ethnic character, with protection for cultural and religious sites
-the establishment of a limited, internal, multi-ethnic Kosovar Security Force
-international guarantees for the territorial integrity of all neighbouring states
 
Alternative wording that would have made explicit reference to Kosovo's "sovereignty" was narrowly rejected by the Committee.

International implications

Addressing fears, especially in Russia, that granting Kosovo any form of independence would exacerbate other separatist tensions around the globe, the report "underlines that the solution in Kosovo will set no precedent in international law, as Kosovo has been under UN rule since 1999 [...and] is in no way comparable to the situation in other conflict regions which are not under UN administration."

In addition, the committee is of the view that "in the long run, the solution regarding the future status of Kosovo lies also in the fact that both Serbia and Kosovo are due to become part of the EU, together with their neighbours, since the future of the Western Balkans lies in the European Union."

The EU's role

The report emphasizes that the EU Member States should speak with one voice on the Kosovo issue, by adopting a common position in Council, and maintaining it in international fora, especially the UN Security Council. (Par. 10) The committee also argued that "the European Union should have a decisive say on the final terms of the settlement." (Par. 9) Finally, the report stated that "the EP is prepared to make available the additional resources required in order to finance the future EU involvement in Kosovo with a view to implementing the status settlement."

The report is to be put to a plenary vote at the next  Brussels session (29 March).

EU's blueprint for Kosovo takeover revealed

EU Observer
13.03.2007 - 09:48 CET | By Renata Goldirova

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG – The European Union is reportedly well-advanced in planning to replace the UN authority in Kosovo, despite the on-going deadlock over the disputed province's political future, a confidential EU report reveals.

The document, made available to the Associated Press on Monday (12 March), lays out a transition from UNMIK, the 3,000-strong UN administration that has been running Kosovo since 1999, to its EU-led successor.

The bloc envisages a 72-member EU delegation supported by 200 local staff, having a mandate to oversee the implementation of the UN plan.

Although it will be the local government having direct responsibility for running Kosovo, the chief EU representative would gain veto power over government decisions and the authority to fire officials found obstructing the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution.

The EU action plan, likely to cost $24.3 million in its first year, is surprisingly resolute given the fact that the one-year long negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina have seen no breakthrough, with a final round of talks between the two parties ending inconclusively Saturday (10 March).

The bloc has not only assumed the final UN blessing for Martti Ahtisaari's plan, putting Kosovo on the road to statehood, but also stands ready to enforce it, even though Serbia has rejected giving sovereignty to its breakaway region.

According to the AP, Serbian government officials refused to comment on the EU plan, saying they had not seen it.

But Kosovo presidential political adviser Muhamet Hamiti has welcomed "the EU's prudent and expeditious planning for the future EU-led civilian mission" although adding Kosovo's government had hoped for a less "intrusive" foreign presence that would not impede the work of Kosovo's institutions", the Associated Press reported.

By the end of March, UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari is expected to draw up his final recommendations for the compromise settlement and hand it over to the UN Security Council, a body entitled to carry the final decision.

MEPs tread carefully

In another report on Monday (12 March), MEPs in the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee voiced full support for Mr Ahtisaari's blueprint, but stopped short of putting a clear label on their rather pro-independence stance.

According to the parliament's report, the only sustainable settlement for Kosovo is one which "grants the disputed province access to international financial prganizations ... foresees an international presence in order to maintain the multi-ethnic character of Kosovo...provides international support in order to secure the development of effective, self-sustaining institutions for the entire population of Kosovo...and allows Kosovo to achieve its desire to be integrated in Europe."

However, MEPs have refused to suggest how such status should be entitled and ditched the call for "sovereignty supervised by the international community," originally mentioned in the report. Thirty four MEPs, mainly centre-left socialists, voted against a clear label, while 33 MEPs were in favour.

"It is a contradiction," Dutch green MEP Joost Lagendijk, who drafted the text, told EUobserver, adding "the report is a clear description of independence or supervised sovereignty."

"We are not diplomats and I would expect the European Parliament to be as unambiguous as possible," he said, stressing "the Parliament's unequivocal position would be helpful to Mr Ahtisaari."

On the other hand, some MEPs have argued that such wording would be "blunt vis-a-vis Serbia" while others, especially from Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Romania, have seemingly followed their national positions, concerned that Kosovo could serve as a precedent for other breakaway territories.

According to Mr Lagendijk "supervised sovereignty is the best option to establish a viable framework that guarantees stability and protection for all the communities in Kosovo and a long-term self-sustaining economic and social development in the province."
"Further delay is in nobody's interest," he said, hoping that the European Parliament will have a clear position by the time his report sees the final vote in plenary on 29 March.

U.S. Diplomat Says Region's Serbs, Albanians Share Desire for Peace

By Heather Maher
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2007 (RFE/RL) Abridged

UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari told reporters at the end of the final round of talks on Kosovo's status on March 10 that there was no hope of reaching a compromise before he delivers his proposal to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sometime in the next few weeks.

But U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried's trip last week to Belgrade and Kosovo left him feeling cautiously optimistic about the potential for a peaceful future in the province.

"It is clear that the people of Kosovo -- about whom all of this is taking place -- do want, in the main to live together," Fried said. "They are apprehensive about each other. They are apprehensive about each other, there is clearly not a great deal of trust, but there is at least a great deal of determination to make the Ahtisaari plan work."

In a briefing with reporters on March 12 in Washington, Fried said he started his trip on March 5 in Belgrade, where he delivered the same message in a public speech and in private meetings with President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.|

"In Belgrade, my public message to the Serbs was that the United States in particular, but also the trans-Atlantic community in general, wants to see Serbia as part of our common family and part of our common institutions," Fried said. "Whatever the final outcome on Kosovo, we do not want to see a Europe -- whole, free, and at peace -- with Serbia as an exception. We want to see Serbia as part of this Europe, whole, free, and at peace."

Difficulty Finding Compromise

Although he didn't discuss the details of the Ahtisaari proposal in Belgrade, Fried said he told both leaders that the UN envoy is still open to incorporating changes in the document before handing it over to Secretary-General Ban.

Ahtissari's proposal envisions the international community assuming a key supervisory role in Kosovo for an open-ended amount of time. But Kosovo would be allowed many of the trappings of an independent state -- including its own constitution, flag, and army -- and granting it "the right to negotiate and conclude international agreements, including the right to seek membership of international organizations."

Serbia is opposed to any deal that would increase Kosovo's autonomy, and ethnic Albanians want nothing less than full independence.

In Kosovo, Fried traveled throughout the province, meeting first with the Albanian leadership and then with Serbian political leaders and elected officials. In those meetings, he said he heard concern, but no plans by Serbs to leave the region en masse or incite violence.

"I did not hear the mayors talk about mass exodus. I did not hear threats of violence. I did not hear demands, and threats of disruption," Fried said. "What I did hear was a great deal of concern about the future, a desire for clarity, a desire for an international presence beyond the status process, and from a great many Kosovo Serbs, I heard strong expressions of support for KFOR [NATO-led peacekeepers] and what KFOR is doing to protect them."

Members of the Albanian leadership told him they wanted to see all the "historic Kosovo populations" remain in Kosovo after the status question is resolved.

Status Quo Not An Option

Fried acknowledged that the choices the international community faces in Kosovo are not ideal, but said at this point there is no choice but to work within the current realities.
"As I said in Belgrade, Yugoslavia didn't break up so much as it was murdered by extreme nationalists. That being the case, the international community is faced with difficult choices under difficult circumstances but we must make the most of what we've got," he said. "And I leave convinced that, as I was going in, we cannot go back to the situation before 1999, we cannot stay where we are. The status quo is not sustainable so therefore we must look ahead and deal with status."

He also said he disagreed with Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica's March 11 comment that granting Kosovo independence would be "the most dangerous precedent in the history of the United Nations."

"There is no situation anywhere in the world that bears a resemblance to Kosovo. There is no place where the UN has been administering for seven, now close to eight, years. There is no case where NATO was forced to intervene to stop a massive process of ethnic cleansing. The precedent simply doesn't apply," Fried said.

"We have said before and we'll say again as many times as we have to, that Kosovo is not a precedent for any other area ---- whether that's Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Chechnya, Transdniester, Corsica, or Texas," he added.

As to the question of whether Russia will veto the UN plan when it is presented to the Security Council, as many in the region expect it may, Fried said Russia has voiced "concerns" but that the United States and Russia have worked "very closely and collaboratively" on Kosovo's status over the past several years, and he expects that to continue.

Possibilities Of Violence

Tensions in the region remain high. On March 9, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic told the local news agency Beta that ultranationalist followers of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic may try to overthrow the Serbian government if Kosovo gains independence.

On the question of the potential for post-status violence, Fried said NATO is prepared to stay as long as necessary, and had the support of the population. Asked if that meant NATO was prepared to "take responsibility for major bloodshed and violence," he said he met with NATO commanders and they are prepared to step in if things become violent.
Also at the briefing was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, who attended the talks in Vienna as an observer. She characterized Ahtisaari's proposal as one that would lead to a more stable and prosperous Kosovo for both sides, and noted that although talks ended without consensus, there was agreement on "80 percent" of the plan.

"We think that Ahtisaari has done an extremely good job, he's shown great flexibility. He's gone to great lengths to accommodate the parties," she said. "What he has produced are compromises for both sides. There are some very hard compromises in this settlement document. We think it's time that we encourage the parties to come together around Ahtisaari's proposal and find a common ground."

The UN Security Council is set to discuss the proposal in April.(...)

Russia's Test In Kosovo

By Richard Holbrooke
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Washington Post

Obsessed with Iraq, the Bush administration and the public have paid too little attention to a series of Russian challenges to the stability of Europe. There is no doubt that President Vladimir Putin, emboldened by America's difficulties and the effectiveness of his energy diplomacy (which sometimes looks like blackmail), is seeking to regain ground lost in the decade after the Soviet Union's collapse, while at home Putin pursues increasingly authoritarian, often brutal, policies. Only when Putin harshly criticized the United States during a conference in Munich last month (with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Sens. John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham sitting in front of him) did Americans pay attention -- and then only briefly. Now a key test of Russia's relationship with the West is at hand, and Russia's actions could determine whether there is another war in Europe.
Remember Kosovo? It was the big story in 1999, when 78 days of U.S.-led NATO bombing liberated the overwhelmingly Albanian region from repressive Serb control. Its final status was left unresolved under a compromise U.N. Security Council resolution. The United Nations has administered the region, and NATO has protected it, ever since. But the United States and the European Union neglected the final-status issue while positions hardened in Kosovo and Belgrade.

HARDLY AN IMPARTIAL OBSERVER
Richard Holbrooke at a fund raising event in 2005 surrounded by K/Albanian weapon smugglers who
keep arming Kosovo paramilitary groups despite NATO presence
(center Holbrooke and Florin Krasniqi, www.pbs.org, The Brooklyn Connection)

On March 26, the formidable U.N. special envoy, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, will present to the Security Council a plan that would lead to phased independence for Kosovo, with strong guarantees for the rights of the Serb minority there. Belgrade is deeply opposed, as it has been to any change in the status of Kosovo, an area that the Serbs feel is part of their historic territory but that is now more than 90 percent Albanian. In the end, the Serbs will have to face the truth: Kosovo is gone from Serbia forever, a result of the policies of the former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic.

Serbia's future -- and it could be bright -- lies within the European Union, if it can get past its own paralyzing historical myths. A peaceful path to Kosovo's independence would open up the entire Balkans, including Serbia, to a promising new era of regional cooperation.
Enter Moscow, encouraging exactly the wrong tendencies within Serbia.

Putin says Russia will not support anything that the Serbs oppose. If this means a Russian veto in the Security Council, or an effort to water down or delay Ahtisaari's plan, the fragile peace in Kosovo will evaporate within days, and a new wave of violence -- possibly even another war -- will erupt. Ahtisaari's plan, probably the best possible under current circumstances, does not satisfy more extreme Albanians -- because it does not provide instant independence and because of its emphasis on protecting Serbs who chose to remain in Kosovo.

Yet instead of working to avert violence in Kosovo, Russia seems to be enjoying the opportunity to defy key Western countries, especially Germany and the United States. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her superb special envoy, Ambassador Frank Wisner, have told Moscow and Belgrade that the United States supports the Ahtisaari plan, but until President Bush weighs in strongly with Putin (as President Bill Clinton did a decade ago with Boris Yeltsin), there is a serious risk Moscow will not get the message. That message should be simple: If Russia blocks the Ahtisaari plan, the chaos that follows will be Moscow's responsibility and will affect other aspects of Russia's relationships with the West.

Russia contends that the United Nations does not have the right to change an international border without the agreement of the country involved. But Kosovo is a unique case and sets no precedent for separatist movements elsewhere, because in 1999, with Russian support, the United Nations was given authority to decide the future of Kosovo.
Moscow's point about protecting "fraternal" Slav-Serb feelings is nonsense; everyone who has dealt with the Russians on the Balkans, as I did for several years, knows that their leadership has no feelings whatsoever for the Serbs. Russia is using Kosovo for its tactical advantage, as part of a strategy to reassert itself on the international stage. That is a legitimate goal, as long as Russia plays a constructive role -- but Moscow's recent behavior, from Georgia to Iran to some ugly domestic incidents, is not encouraging.
Now Kosovo is shaping up as the biggest international test yet of Vladimir Putin. If Moscow vetoes or delays the Ahtisaari plan, the Kosovar Albanians will declare independence unilaterally. Some countries, including the United States and many Muslim states, would probably recognize them, but most of the European Union would not. A major European crisis would be assured. Bloodshed would return to the Balkans. NATO, which is pledged to keep peace in Kosovo, could find itself back in battle in Europe.

Would the Russians really benefit from all this? Certainly not. European security and stability -- and Russia's relationship with the West -- are on the line.
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Richard Holbrooke was the lead U.S. negotiator in the Dayton peace talks, which ended the war in Bosnia. He writes a monthly column for The Post.

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